


On Esau's Heel

by zebaoth



Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: Character Study, Child Abuse, Gen, No Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zebaoth/pseuds/zebaoth
Summary: To be chosen as the destined Gemini Saint is not an easy lot. Harder still, is it to be his brother.These are the trials of two stolen childhoods.
Relationships: Gemini Kanon & Gemini Saga
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

The Surplice weighed heavily upon his body. No more so than the armor of Gemini ever had. And yet, the metal stayed cool, as if it were untouched. It did not burn hot as his Cloth had.

In the regalia of the servants of Hades, his impression was far more somber. Perhaps his appearance finally matched his temperament. So, too, was the solemnity of the Underworld befitting the distant melancholy of his two companions.

One change, however, could not be reconciled in Saga’s mind, and that was the transformation of the true Grand Pope himself. Not only was Shion unsuited for the darkness of the Surplice, he did not look at all as Saga had remembered him.

Saga rarely saw the old man’s face in those days, but he had been just that. His had been a face that was dignified and weathered as the cliffs that spread above the sea.

Saga himself felt no younger. Most unnatural it seemed to him, that his body was older than Shion’s. That is, if Hades was to be believed. Kanon had stayed the same, too.

Saga tried to envision Kanon as he had looked when he was young, as a child, as a baby, but could not. He could not remember him ever being so young. Saga had been a baby himself at the time, he supposed. Still, it seemed a poor excuse. Could it be that the two of them had ever been so small? They had been together and they had been small, together, inside a woman, once. It didn’t matter who she was or who she had been. Shion said so, when he had asked.

“Don’t cry, my child,” Shion had said. He had placed a warm and wizened hand upon Saga’s head. “I am Father and Mother to you now.”

Father and Mother and Brother and Master.

So too had he done when he had presented young Saga with the Cloth of Gemini, in the company of all Sanctuary. All Sanctuary, save one boy, who kept to the shadows. Shion had seen to that.

The Grand Pope had presented Saga with the mantle of the golden knights, and he had placed his hand upon his head.

“Well done,” said the Grand Pope.

The assemblage gathered there then cheered for him, but all of their clamor meant less to him than the weight of the warm hand upon his head.

That night, there had been a feast. The lamb that had been sacrificed during the ceremony had been thrown upon the pyre for Athena, but more than that had been butchered in a place where eyes did not see. There was beef as well, and fish, and a whole roast pig. All was dressed with sweet dates and olives.

Saga had never known that a man could keep eating after he was no longer hungry. Always when his cup was emptied, a woman had seen to that it was filled again. Saga did not like the taste of it.

It seemed an awful indulgence to drink wine pure. On an ordinary day, he would have drunk water, and only one part in four would be wine. That was enough to purify and keep away disease. Still came the women to fill his cup.

Back then, Saga had not known that they were slaves.

How could he have any notion of what it meant to be a slave, when his labor, too, was unrewarded. It would be easy to say that he had killed Shion for that. But he did not free them, when he took his place.

Before the feast, he had spread a scrap of cheesecloth on his lap below the table. As he feasted, he had taken from the table a cut of lamb, a brace of olives, and plenty of fish, and, pretending to eat them, had instead slipped them unseen below. When the feast was ended, he carried the bundle back to his Temple beneath his tunic. He did not hide it for fear of punishment. On the contrary, he did not think that the Grand Pope would have stopped him from taking it. After all, Saga was always given more than he needed. But he somehow felt great shame, doing so.

Though the fairer solstice was near upon Diana’s horizon, the night had fallen full dark by the time he came back into the Temple of Gemini. From beneath his tunic, he pulled out the cheesecloth bundle. Even carried against his skin, the flame seared flesh had cooled into a hint of yesterday.

“Kanon?” he said. “I brought you dinner.”

“Up here,” said Kanon.

He was sitting in an apse near the lowest part of the lofty ceiling, where the roof met the wall like the seam of a great stone table, fixed with the hand of a master joiner. Once, there had been a statue tucked into the alcove there. Kanon had long since broken it, casting it onto the floor below. Now, it was his custom to climb up the pillar directly beneath and sit there up on high, as if he were now a statue himself.

A gargoyle, Kanon would say. A grotesque and silent guardian. A fanciful invention of the Christian invaders. In Saga’s opinion, Kanon was dangerously fond of the curiosities of barbarians.

Saga tossed the bundle up to Kanon’s voice in the dark. He heard the sound of Kanon devouring the meat with the savagery of a wild animal.

“Happy birthday,” said Saga.

The sounds of slurping and tearing halted. Then, resumed.

Saga went to sleep, his head throbbing.

That night, Saga did not dream. Kanon did.


	2. Chapter 2

Saga lowered his eyes against the passing of the sun. It couldn't have been said of him, in the early days, that he had been cruel. No man is born a traitor, even if by his stars, he be doomed to be one.

Kanon hated him long before his first betrayal, and that had been unjust. It must be written! It could not be forgotten that, in the early days, Kanon had hated him, unjustly. He had not betrayed his brother, yet. He would not betray him for many years to come.

The first time, a few years removed from the feast and the lamb's blood, came when the olive trees were heavy and low. Saga had brought some home to the Temple, cradled in the lap of his tunic, to be shared.

"Kanon," called Saga. His voice echoed upon the stone. No answer came.

An olive fell from his tunic and rolled away into the dark when he stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow. "Kanon!" he called. No answer came.

He let the rest of them spill onto the floor. "Kanon!" he called again. "Get down here!" He stamped his foot on the flagstones. Still no answer came.

Saga could wait no longer. He had left his training to deliver the olives. He would be whipped if he was caught. He began to climb up the pillar beneath the hollow apse. Peeking up over the side, he said again, "Kanon."

But Kanon was not there. The only thing in the hollow at the corner of the ceiling was a little wool blanket spread out upon the narrow shelf. "Kanon..." said Saga, to no one.

He felt somehow that he couldn't return to his training now, until Kanon returned. He would take the whipping. Saga pulled himself the rest of the way onto the shelf and curled into a ball so that he could lie on his side.

Something crinkled beneath the wool blanket. Saga lifted the corner.

He gasped.

Hidden beneath the wool blanket was flimsy paper printed with colored pictures, shiny sweet smelling packages that melted when you touched them, and a little wooden toy with metal wheels that spun.

"Oh, no," whispered Saga. "Oh, no!"

He grabbed the evidence by handfuls, wrapped it up in the blanket, and swung it over his shoulder, as if he were a boy from the country carrying a bindle. He did not realize where his feet were carrying him until he arrived at the Pope's Chamber.

\--

Kanon slipped into the Temple like a shadow and scurried up to his perch. He did not sense the others. They were concealing their Cosmos, as Kanon was doing himself. Kanon always concealed his Cosmos.

When he got to the top, he cried out in anguish. The sound echoed against the empty shelf down into the depth of the labyrinth.

"Kanon," said Shion. Saga stood beside him, clinging to his robe. When Shion stepped into the light, Saga had no choice but to follow him. It did not cross his mind that he could have stayed hidden if he had simply let go.

"Come here, Kanon," said the Grand Pope.

Kanon took his time. Saga trembled. Why must Kanon prolong the agony for the both of them?

At last, Kanon stood before the two of them, with his fists at his sides.

"Yes, sir?" he said. "What is it that you would require of me."

Kanon did not kneel, but Shion said nothing of the lapse in his manners.

The Grand Pope dropped the bundle that Saga of Gemini had brought to him onto the flagstones. "Are these yours?" he said. He spoke very softly.

Kanon closed his eyes. "Yes," he said.

"Did you leave Sanctuary to get them?"

Kanon closed his eyes tighter. "Yes," he said.

"You know, young man, that the punishment for desertion is death."

Saga began to weep into the folds of Shion's robe. Shion placed his hand upon Saga's head to calm him.

"Hush now, my child," he said. "I would forgive such a youthful indiscretion as this."

Kanon opened his eyes. His mouth gaped open a fraction, while his brother continued shamelessly to cry.

"But I must impress upon you how serious a crime this is, all the same. To leave Sanctuary without permission is forbidden to any warrior of Athena. Can you imagine if you had been seen? All of our care and caution would be undone."

Kanon lowered his eyes, but not his head. "Yes, sir," he said.

"Still," said Shion. "I know that you are only a child. And you know, I hope, that I have never been a cruel man."

"Never a cruel man!" said Saga, burying his face entirely within Shion's robe. His hair rustled beneath the weight of Shion's hand.

"Your punishment will not be harsh," said the Grand Pope.

\--

In the center of the Temple, Kanon was made to build a pyre. Upon he, he placed his belongings, one by one. The colors of the comic books were swallowed in flame, the candy soured and blackened and bubbled, and the paint of the toy train curled and peeled and was lost as the wood beneath it burned.

The smoke these things produced was foul, when they were consumed.

Shion handed Kanon his woolen blanket, folded neatly. It had been blue... Yes, Saga was certain that he remembered. The blanket had been blue, and old, and made of wool, and Shion had folded it before giving it to Kanon. He had been so kind.

"Please take care, child," said the Grand Pope. "For the sake of Athena."

In the corner, forgotten, had long ago rolled the olives, uneaten. Saga wailed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey if you like this, please comment. if you hate it, please comment also. any kind of attention whatsoever makes my life worth living.


	3. Chapter 3

The Shadow of Gemini thereafter took greater care.

In the years that followed, his elder scarcely could guess what mischief he made.

It was great to his fortune also, in the years that followed, that his elder turned his attention ever more beyond hearth and home.

Saga devoted himself to his training with all the discipline and fanaticism of a world class statesman. Scarcely were any his equal, save the child of Virgo and one other. The Virgo, though more than promising, was scarcely yet a half-opened blossom upon the shallow water. Therefore, for a rival, Saga found his nearest match in the young Sagittarius.

Which of them was the swifter, or the stronger, or even the taller, seemed to change from day to day. In sun and rain, his curls would shine above his eyes that were so often bowed in modesty. Yet in his austerity, he was not hardened. Simple and bright as a wild cornflower he was, and lively as a yearling colt. Aiolos would fill the silence of Saga's melancholy with laughter that was sweet as music.

Upon the grounds from afar in the fresh light of the morning, Saga watched Aiolos loose an arrow. When Saga closed his eyes against the rising of the sun, he saw a fresco of Eros he had lately seen, or perhaps, wholly imagined.

A thunderbolt as from the heavenly throne of Olympus struck him then.

Naturally, Saga sought forth wisdom from whence all wisdom came. In his opinion.

"I seek your guidance," said Saga, kneeling before the throne. "You have long taught me that body and mind must be sound in service to Athena."

Shion laughed softly, warmly. "What troubles you, my child?" he said. Saga could not see the old man's face beneath his mask, but he knew that he was smiling.

"Have you ever been in love?" said Saga.

Shion's breath hitched up high into the top of his chest. It lasted only a moment, but the sound of it reached Saga's ears.

"No," said the Grand Pope. Saga heard a bitterness in his words that seemed a foreign taste. "You have obligations to Athena, first and foremost. You would do best to forget such things."

"But I only--"

"You would do best to forget!" said the Grand Pope. He spoke too quickly. His face was not beneath the mask. His face was the mask.

Saga lowered his head. "I hear and obey," he said.

"Good," said Shion. His hand absently drifted to the side of his face, as if to relieve an ache. His voice was quieter when next he spoke. "How old are you now?" he said.

"Twelve suns in Gemini," said Saga.

Shion laughed softly, but Saga heard no smile in it. "Such an age," he said, very softly. Almost too soft to hear. "No notion of heartbreak." Saga felt as though Shion was speaking to someone who was not there. For a moment, it frightened him. His eyes darted into the corners, looking for ghosts.

But Saga saw nothing.

He saw only Shion, sitting back in his throne, like a man exhausted.

Without lifting his head, Saga discreetly raised his own eyes to the where the Grand Pope's eyes should be beneath the mask. Saga could not see any eyes, but for the shadow. What Saga could see was the Grand Pope's hand where it rested against the side of his face. It was an old hand. It looked weak.

"Rise," said Shion. "You may go."

Saga obeyed.

From the top of the steps outside of the of the Pope's Chambers, Saga could see the training grounds. Aiolos was there. From this great height, he looked no bigger than insect.

Saga, in a new and unwoken weakness, wondered if it was really quite so bad to disobey, if only in mind and not in action.

Saga descended, and thought of the future.

Shion remained, and thought of the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cranky cause you miss dohko, aren't you : )


End file.
